EAST AURORA, N.Y.-- On June 22, 1980, 48-year-old Nadine Steven's body was found in a creek in the woods off Luther Road; three decades later, her murder is still unsolved.

"I just remember she was a real sweet lady," said her granddaughter Amy McCain. McCain was 7 years old when her grandmother was found strangled.

"Her body was just left there, for days," McCain, who now resides in Arizona, said after contacting the 2 On Your Side Tipline.

"They had always told us there were no leads," said McCain, "there was nothing they could do but hope for a confession."

Steven's car was found almost a week later in a parking lot in Hamburg; family members say she had gone there to meet an ex-boyfriend, a man who was a suspect in the murder but was never charged. He died three weeks ago, and 2 On Your Side has decided not to name him.

2 On Your Side's Sarah Hopkins asked Detective Rick Daminski of the East Aurora Police Department if it would be fair to call that man the prime suspect.

"Out of fairness, I'd hate to point my finger at anybody at this point, because again it is still being investigated," said Detective Daminski.

Daminski has been investigating this case for the past few years with the help of the New York State Police. He says inheriting a case like this doesn't come without hurtles.

"Some of the people you can't interview because they're deceased," he said. "A lot of the people are elderly and they don't remember, they forgot. It's very tough."

But for McCain and her family, the wait has been brutal.

"It blows me away that there's been no closure to this in 30 years," McCain said.

Channel 2's Sarah Hopkins asked: "What is it that's taken so long for this case, and for the family to find some closure?

Detective Daminski: I think it's just the case in itself, and now we're trying to get a little bit of headway, and we're going further on this, and again actively investigating it."

Sarah Hopkins: Do you think that there was anything done in years past that maybe should have been done differently?

Detective Daminski: To Monday morning quarterback this, I can't say. You know I'm sure everybody would say they'd do things differently, or do it a different way, but from what they had to work with back then, they didn't' have the scientific evidence we have now that could be collected.

Evidence from the crime scene has been sent for DNA testing, police say.

Detective Daminski says they are working hard to be sure Stevens' family gets closure.

"Whether it be an arrest or not, they definitely deserve closure," Daminski said.